I took some rose cuttings last year and a few are doing well. One (the one I just pushed into the ground) has set a small flower bud - should I cut it off to give the plant a chance to grow stronger before it starts putting it's energy into flowers?

Right, there still seem to be many gardeners who aren't sure about rose cuttings. Now there are various ways of doing it. The slit trench method, which has always failed for me as I tend to forget them and they dry out, then the pot method. This method does seem to work for me.

When to take cuttings? Ideally September/October but a long stem of one of my ramblers snapped off last week so I am trying it nevertheless. Sometimes you have to do it when the opportunity arises but September/October is best.

How to take cuttings? 9" lengths, thickness of a pencil or even thicker, a sloping cut above a bud and a horizontal cut below a bud (so you plant them the correct way up). Get a tall 'rose' flower pot (the tall narrow ones), mix up a 50/50 mixture of general purpose compost and vermiculite or perlite. Tip into flower pot and moisten the compost mixture. You want it damp rather than ringing wet. Remove all of the leaves except the top few from the cutting, dip the bottoms into hormone rooting powder and insert into compost mixture, say with six around the side.

You WILL lose some so six is not a high number. Some people now cover with a poly bag and some don't. I've tried both methods and found they can easily get botritus in poly bags. So I label up the pots with name and date of planting, and place on the greenhouse staging (but NOT in direct sunlight). I then go in every day for the first few weeks and mist the cuttings with a hand sprayer and water. When the cuttings begin to shoot well, I reduce the spraying.

One year later, and NOT BEFORE, I pot up each individual cutting.

One year after that, the roots will be well established enough to plant out.

I have tried cutting corners and potting them up earlier and although the top growth looks impressive, the roots were small and not developed. Now go and try it - in September/October. Good luck!

Last autumn I planted two rose twigs not really expecting them to do anything. I just pushed them into the garden soil. One I lost and the other started getting new leaves. With changing the garden round I decided to put the surving twig in a pot and it is surprisingly doing well. I have just read Paul N's note on the right way to grow rose cuttings and am definitely going to try it. It sounds more foolproof than the way I did it. Many thanks

I took 3 cuttings last (late) April from a healthy climbing rose as above and put each one in a separate 7" clay pot with 50/50 compost & perlite. All 3 in sheltered west facing spot and by autumn 2012 one showed growth and two failed. That one now has healthy growth still (over-wintered in same place, outside but sheltered and on a wooden bench).

If I pot on for one more year, can anyone please tell me what to use as the medium or should I just continue with the 50/50 mix? I do not want to risk losing it as it came from my parents house, which sadly is now sold. Many thanks.

I got a rose for valentines day and put in water as you do, but I've noticed that there appears to be 3 area's where it looks like roots are growing. A part from the flower part of the rose drying up the leafs are still looking very health and green......so my question is can I try and plant the rose with the advice on your site?

I have a rose that I got for valentines day, to which I put the rose in water as you do, which I notice that what I think are roots on the stem in 3 places.....apart from the rose its self drying out the leaves are still green and healthy looking.....so my question is can I plant the rose following your instructions?

I just got given some cut roses (obviously a bucket ) within a bag of worm food from my neighbour and has Various other kitchen waste among other things, in it.

Now this is a long shot and i know its a very very long shot,but i love the colour and need a rose like this, for free.

The flowers are on their last legs and there are no leaves on the stem. There are nodes for leaves and some are starting to grow. (see pics)

(HOPE YOU SEE MY MAD DILEMMA??)

Once again. I know this is a very long shot, but????

The few things i do know about cut roses are:----

flowers from bouquet are harder to root, since they've been grown in controlled environments. And cut roses that have been sitting in water have already expended a lot of energy in blooming. There's also still the grafting dilemma. There's no guarantee this rose will thrive, even it if does root. I need to cut the flower off and refocus that energy on the plant's survival. I want the branch to continue to photosynthesise and feed itself (but i have no leaves) until the new roots form, so i would have to have some leaves, at least a couple (i have none, but new shoots lower down.) I have made a fresh cut on the bottom of the stem, just below a node and use my pruners to slice up into the bottom of the stem about 1/4", quartering it. I will use root hormone solutiopn but not sure how it will work in the bucket of rainwater. Now this is the big one for me. I was told not to put the cuttings into any growing medium!!! I have no sand left and the only medium is pulped cardboard and water. I do have half a bag of seed compost though? ( will that do???) or will they root in water????

I will give them a couple of days in a bucket of rain water and then see what happens. ( i have already cut the bottom and dunked them in hormone root, stuff I will leave the flower heads on till tomorrow ( is this the right thing as they have been out of water for a few days, i think)What is a non growing medium??? Is that water???

6. Then the usual, germination routine under cover and seal the pot in a bag until it grows.

Taking a cutting is one thing. but taking a cutting from a compost bin is something totally different!